Attention Machine
Communications and Technology Fall 2025Link to Project
Attention Machine is an interactive web project that rewrites live NYT headlines into extreme, emotionally charged versions as a speculative future scenario. It is made to highlight how intensified emotional framing emerges under attention scarcity. It lets viewers see normal headlines compared to exaggerated ones so the contrast becomes the critique. After reading Michael H. Goldhaber's work “Attention Economy”, I began to imagine a speculative future where this exaggerated emotional pull no longer feels extreme but instead becomes an ordinary part of how information is delivered and consumed, a terrifying dystopian.
The title uses LTC Goudy Text Pro to echo the character and mood of the New York Times Cheltenham logo while giving it a distinct twist. Body text is set in Georgia to reflect the familiar feel of the paper's website typography. The project is built with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, pulling real time Top Stories data from the New York Times API and running it through a rewriting function tuned to emotional amplification patterns. A simple interface with mode buttons keeps the layout minimal so the contrast between original and intensified language becomes the center of attention.
This project responds to Michael H. Goldhaber’s journal “Attention Economy,” which frames our attention as a kind of currency. It reflects on how emotional intensity is increasingly rewarded over clarity, how media outlets adopt engagement driven tactics similar to social platforms, and how the space for neutral or calm reporting shrinks when attention becomes the central measure of value.
The idea ties closely to class discussions about how digital systems are built to optimize for emotion since emotion holds attention. It also works as a response to readings on media manipulation, platform incentives, and the idea of scarcity. This connects to the broader shift we studied from information scarcity to attention scarcity. It also shows how different communication mediums shape expression, moving from written language that supports slower, more reflective thinking to technologies like the telephone that encourage shorter, more efficient forms of communication such as slang.
The initial idea was to create an infographic style visualization on how heavily the NYT leans towards negative world news, but it wasn’t as clearly expressed in connection to the idea of attention economy